ROSA KHUTOR, Russia  He was born in Poway, likes burritos and doesn’t have a lilting brogue. His father grew up in England. His mother is from Siberia.

But Ireland nearly put a snowboarder into the final of the men’s halfpipe Tuesday.

About the only thing that Seamus O’Connor was missing from his Irish heritage was its famed luck, nearly landing a frontside 1260 on the final jumping pass of an otherwise sensational semifinal run before spinning out at the bottom of the halfpipe. That likely was the difference between his first Olympics ending and them continuing into the night alongside Shaun White.

“That was originally my goal, to make it to the semifinals,” said O’Connor, a Point Loma resident. “I got in there, and then once I was there I was kind of wanting more. I guess I can’t be too upset.”

In the moment: perhaps.

Big picture: no way.

He’s 16. He just competed at an Olympics, the youngest entrant in slopestyle, the second youngest in halfpipe. He wore lime green ski pants. His parents held up a hand-written “Go Seamus” sign and waved Irish flags. He reached the semifinals in both events.

“I couldn’t really ask for anything else,” said O’Connor, who was fourth after the first semifinal run but slipped to ninth (and only six advanced). “It’s more than I expected, absolutely. I didn’t really understand the weight the Olympics carry. I was told that but I never really understood it until I got here.

“My Facebook and Instagram have been blowing up. I’ve been taking so many photos and (signing) autographs. It’s been amazing.”

O’Connor is one of five Irish athletes here, none of them actually from Ireland. The closest is Jan Rossiter, a cross country skier who was born in Dublin to an Irish father and a Czech mother but moved at a young age to Canada.

Sean Greenwood, in the skeleton, is from Canada as well. Alpine skier Conor Lyne is a mechanical engineering student at the University of Utah. Florence Bell is a 17-year-old alpine skier born and raised in England who represented Great Britain at the junior level; she had to beat out one other skier for the Olympic spot, her older sister.

The alternative, of course, was to send no one.

“It’s a win-win situation,” said Kevin O’Connor, his father who operates a brain injury rehabilitation center in Ramona. “I think the Irish will benefit from raising awareness of winter sports and attracting funding and inspiring kids. It’s better than them sitting at home playing bloody Nintendo.

“Seamus is a good-looking kid, he’s articulate, he’s mature. And he acquitted himself well. I think he’s done a great job for the Irish.”

Whether O’Connor wears the lime green ski pants in future Olympics remains uncertain. He also could represent Great Britain, Russia or the United States.

“Right now, I’m not even really thinking about different nationalities,” said the son. “Right now, the future is totally open-ended.”

“That’s not my decision,” said the father. “Me personally, I hope he stays with Ireland the rest of his life. But that’s up to Seamus to decide. I just wanted to give him this opportunity, because no matter how good he would have been, he would not have been here. America was 10 deep, and only four of them could come.

“His mom is from Russia and her parents are from 100 kilometers up the road, and I just thought it was a wonderful, synergistic story for an American kid to ride for Ireland in the home of his mother’s forebearers.”